A variety of wet and dry mop constructions are known in the art. Such constructions include those utilizing mop elements made from twisted natural or synthetic fiber or yarns as well as those made from planar web elements of woven or non-woven materials having involutions or twists formed along the length thereof. Regardless of their construction, a good mop strives to achieve the following goals:                the ability to absorb or pick-up liquid and/or particulate accumulations on a floor surface,        the ability to release the absorbed or picked-up liquid and/or particulate when the mop is compressed,        the ability to be used effectively on a rough floor surface without tearing or generating lint during use,        the ability to withstand multiple launderings while maintaining structural integrity and its absorption, retention, and release properties, and        the ability to eliminate linting or shedding during general handling.        
Current mop constructions can provide some, but not all, of these properties. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,133 teaches a mop made from planar web elements that can be processed to form involutions or twists along the length thereof to create capillaries that increase absorption and retention of liquid and/or particulates. The involutions/twists can be maintained by either overwrapping a helical strand about the web element or by applying adhesive along the web element. However, both of these approaches present problems. In the case of a helical overwrap, the overwrapping tension must be tightly controlled as the involutions/twists will not be maintained if the overwrap is too loose while the capillary effect of the involutions/twists will be inhibited/negated if the overwrap is too tight. In the case of adhesion bonding, points or areas of adhesion between web element surfaces define “catch points” for particulate matter in the mop element that can inhibit the capillary effect. Furthermore, upon laundering of such adhesion-bonded mop elements, the points of adhesion form stress points that can lead to tearing of the web elements adjacent to the bond region since the bond region is often stronger that the material being bonded. The resulting tears diminish the capillary effect and define new regions for lint to be released from the mop element during use thereof.